music clip of the day

Act I: Playing for change on New York City street corners and subway platforms, without a regular home, for 20 years.

Act II: Performing at nightclubs, concert halls, and festivals around the world.

That’s a life story no one would believe. But it’s the one this guy has lived.

Charles Gayle Trio, live, Russia (St. Petersburg)

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lagniappe

The challenge of free jazz is to create coherent, compelling music without such obvious devices as melody, recurring chord sequences or a steady beat. It’s a challenge that has defeated many a virtuoso since the free-jazz heyday of the 1960’s. But Charles Gayle, a tenor saxophonist, is carving out a free jazz that is muscular, impassioned, clearly structured and wonderfully volatile. . . . Mr. Gayle’s trio made music to move mountains by.—Jon Pareles, New York Times